18 August 2009

You can tell a lot about a political Party by the questions it asks. Just before Parliament shut down for its summer break this year, Opposition MPs rattled in a number of questions on education. These included questions on: pass rates in double science GCSE; the numbers of candidates taking particular A levels including that old punch bag of media studies: the number of Diploma consortia drop outs; the cost of setting up Ofqual and QCDA; the value of Train to Gain; the impact of Skills for Life; and the future of National Skills Academies. Such questioning is usually for a reason and the reasons here aren’t hard to find. Two stand out.

The first and most obvious one is that the Conservative Party is making the issue of exam standards a corner stone of its election strategy. Proof of this can be seen not only in this recent smattering of questions on school subjects but also in the latest pronouncements by Michael Gove, the Shadow Minister leading on such matters for the Conservatives. As he told the Andrew Marr show last week, “there is objective evidence from people who care about academic standards that they are not what they should be.” The attractions of going in hard on standards are obvious: it plays well to voters; it discomforts a Government whose claims that standards have risen significantly under its watch have been increasingly questioned; and, perhaps surprisingly, it allows the Conservatives to claim some moral high ground on how disadvantaged pupils have achieved under Labour. Just over 42% of pupils on free school meals failed to gain a single C grade in any GCSE last summer as Mr Gove reminded the Party at its Spring Conference this year.

For nearly two years now, Conservative education policy seems to have been fixated by the Swedish model of independent schools although their roving eyes have also taken in ‘Knowledge is Power’ schools in America and youth workfare schemes in Holland. Each has attracted some interest but what we have emerging now is a distinct policy for schools in England built around the concept of ‘a knowledge-based curriculum.’ This is decidedly different to the skills based, employer influenced, target driven curriculum that has become the hallmark of the Labour Government and around which so much of the education system has been built. To those who argue that such a move risks a return to the bad old days of an academic-vocational divide, Mr Gove simply replies ‘evidence shows that historically more young people could benefit from a rigorous academic curriculum.’ Recent remarks on history teachers, the importance of languages and the use of universities in quality assuring A levels suggest he means business.

Not only might the curriculum for young people be different but so might the performance measures, for as Mr Gove outlined last weekend school league tables would be revamped under the Conservatives. His proposals would see the number of qualifications that count capped, probably at eight per pupil, schools required to record destination outcomes and, most controversially of all, a points system introduced that progressively rewarded high grades in so-called ‘hard’ subjects such as English, maths and single sciences. There is no doubt that the system of equivalencies between qualifications used in league tables has been poorly understood and perhaps misused. Also that the tables have encouraged schools to focus primarily on pupils close to the C grade threshold perhaps at the expense of some others and that pupils themselves have tended to go for qualification quantity rather than quality but these are system not curriculum faults. At a time when there has been exponential growth in vocational learning in schools especially through qualifications like BTECs and more recently Diplomas, when anxiety is growing about youth unemployment, when employers are consistently calling for a range of personal skills in areas like team working and problem solving and when global pressures on economic competitiveness are so intense, it would seem perverse to many to see these sorts of skills not equally recognised. With Labour’s School Report Card about to enter further consultation, it seems that the issue of school accountability is one that is sharply dividing the Parties.

Much of the thinking behind these ideas is coming from the Sykes Commission which was set up by Michael Gove in the wake of the SATs debacle in summer 2008 ‘to help restore confidence in the exam system by providing qualifications that are rigorous, robust and relevant.’ The Commission, which should not be underestimated, is due to present its initial Report next month but as these latest developments reveal, Conservative policy on schools is rapidly taking shape.

Four further features are worth noting. First, development of the academy template as a model for schools in the future. This development will include a return to basics to optimise the freedoms that Conservatives feel academies have lost in recent years though may have a quid pro quo with leading academies gaining freedoms if they take on ‘failing’ schools. Also an expansion of the academy model into leading primary schools and possibly residential care providers. Second, tougher entry requirements initially for primary school teachers and a revamp of teacher training with much of it to be on the job and with an emphasis on developing academic excellence leading to a masters level award. Third, a refocused inspection system with the emphasis on teaching and learning rather without child protection and social care. Fourth, a modified national testing system with potentially more regular teacher assessment of English and maths in primary schools and the replacement of Key Stage 2 tests with nationally accountable teacher assessments at the start of secondary education.

The other feature that stands out from the recent questioning by Opposition MPs is the extent to which debate has shifted recently from the rather crude arguments about which Party will invest or cut more to which will be more efficient at running the country under the current more austere conditions and what impact this will have on public services such as education. Interestingly, apart from the MPs questions, a number of Committee Reports have also come out criticising the way in which key education projects have been commissioned and managed over the last year. From ETS’s contract for SATs to the BCF programme it’s quite a litany.

Both Parties, but particularly the Conservatives who are thinking small but beautiful, are likely to be influenced by some interesting work from a new thinktank, the Institute of Government, which has been advising the Conservatives on government and which has recently published the first of a number of enquiries into the way in which Whitehall works. It points out that while “mandarins may excel in strategic leadership, they have a poor record in delivering services.” It’s something the Conservatives are keen to rectify.

© Edexcel Policy Watch 2009. Steve Besley is Head of Policy at Edexcel. Policy watch is a service intended to help busy people understand developments in the world of education. Visit Edexcel at www.edexcel.org.uk